Doffing mechanism for ring spinning, doubling, and twisting machines



2,648,947 AND 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Wm Hm TH m RM mm Tn YS m HT .J.

Aug. 18, 1953 J,

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING. DOUBLING,

Filed April 24, 1951 Aug. 18, 1953 J. J. HAYTHORNTHWAITE DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND TWISTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 24, 1951 l Wm I U- a Aug. 18, 1953 J. J. HAYTHORNTHWAITE 2,648,947

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND TWISTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 24, 1951 Aug. 18, 1953 J. J. HAYTHORNTHWAITE 2,648,947

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND

TWISTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 24, 1951 g- 8, 1953 J. J. HAYTHORNTHWAITE 2,643,947

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND V TWISTING MACHINES Filed April 24, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Aug. 18,1953

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR RING SPINNING, DOUBLING, AND TWISTING MACHINES James Jackson Haythornthwaite, Accrington,

England, assignor to T. M. M. (Research) Limited, Helmshore, Rossendale, England Application April 24, 1951, Serial No. 222,588 In Great Britain April 26, 1950 Claims. (01. 57-52) The invention relates to an improvement in or modification of the invention which forms the subject of my United States patent application Serial No. 195,961 now Patent No. 2,582,696 of January 15, 1952. It has for its object to provide in a ring spinning, doubling or twisting machine improved means for removing or domng the yarn packages from the spindles at the completion of the spinning operation, 1. e. when the build of a full yarn package is complete. Such means is applicable whether the relative reciprocatory motion between the spindles and the rings necessary for the formation of the yarn packages is effected by raising and lowering the spindle rail in relation to a stationary ring rail, or by reciprocatory movement of the ring rail in relation to a stationary spindle rail, or by a combined movement of both these elements in opposite directions.

A ring spinning, doubling or twisting unit according to the invention comprises in relation to the spindle a package carrier member detachably mounted thereon with capability of relative axial movement, said member providing a seatin for the yarn package. The carrier member comprises two components relatively rotatable about the spindle axis. One of such components carries a cutter. The other is adapted to seize the yarn as the ring rail and the spindle reach the doiiing initiating relation. Means is provided for then arresting the rotation of one of said components, the arrangement being such that the continued rotation of the other component (brought about, for example, by imparting a brief impulse to the spindle) causes the seized yarn to be tautened and severed against the cutter. Means is also provided for intercepting and retaining the package carrier member at the subsequent separation of the spindle and the ring so that the yarn package is supported with freedom for dofilng.

The carrier member preferably provides a shrouded seating for the base of the bobbin, pirn or like tube on which the yarn package is wound. on the spindle, said seating being of such character that when the spindle is withdrawn from the package the latter will be predisposed to topple laterally as the lateral support hitherto afforded by the spindle is removed.

The said interceptor means may take the form of a narrow plate or bar supported slidably beneath the ring rail and extending throughout the length of the machine or of a unitary section thereof, with a connection at one end to means by which the plate or bar may be reciprocated so that projecting portions thereof are engaged with or disengaged from a flange on each package carrier member. Preferably, two such plates are provided, being disposed in spaced parallel arrangement one in front of and the other behind the spindle axes, with a yoke connecting said plates at one end to the means employed for their reciprocatory movement.

The manner in which the invention may be carried into effect is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention as applied to a ring spinning machine. In said drawings Fig. 1 is a general arrangement of a spinning unit, as viewed on a section at right angles to the spindle and ring rails, the parts being shown in the spinning position; Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a partly sectional perspective view of the package carrier member and a frag-'- mentary perspective view of that part of the spindle on which said carrier member is mounted; Fig. 4 is a section of part of the spinning unit shown in Fig. 1 immediately after the spindle rail first reaches the doffing position, and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on the line V-V of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a similar view to Fig. 4, but depicts the second stage in the dofling cycle, Fig. 7 being a section on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6; Fig.8

is a similar view to Fig. 1, showing the third stage in the dofiing cycle. (Figs. 2 to 7 are drawn on larger scales than Figs. 1 and 8.) Fig. 9 is a section on a smaller scale than Figs. 1 and 8 through a spinning machine, incorporating dofiing mechanism as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8, and in which the separator plates are adapted to be moved outwardly to ensure positive dofiing.

The spinning unit to which the present description relates comprises the known elements of a spindle l, rotatably mounted in a bolster 2 which is suitably fixed in the spindle rail 3, the spindle wharve being indicated at 4. During the spinning operation, the yarn package is built upon a bobbin, pirn or like tube which is placed upon the spindle, the nose of the package being arranged to project through a ring 6 carried in a ring rail 1. The traveller is indicated at 8 and the lappetguide at 9. Fig. 1 depicts the path of the yarn as it is drawn from the drafting apparatus (not shown) through the guide 9 and traveller B to the package 5. It will be understood that the invention is applicable to ring spinnin machines in which the relative reciprocatory motion between the spindle and ring, necessary to perform the operation of building the yarn package, is effected either by raising and lowering the spindle rail in relation to a stationary ring rail, or by raising and loweringth ring rail in relation to a stationary spindle rail, or by combined movements of both spindle rail and ring rail; it is however assumed for the purposes of the present description that the spindle rail is the reciprocating element and that the ring rail is stationarsr.

Detachably mounted on the tapered part It of the blade of the spindle I, so that it rests upon the upper flange of the wharve 4 thereof, is a member (herein referred to as the package carrier member) made of a light metal alloy or a plastic or other material of light weight,

I comprising two relative rotatable components.

One such component consists of a substantially cylindrical sleeve I i bored axially to flt over the spindle and to receive driving motion from a plurality of spring-loaded balls i2 provided in the part H] of the spindle. The said balls l2 are adapted to hold the member ii yieldably, permitting the spindle to be inserted into the same or withdrawn therefrom in the course of the donning and dofiing operations. The upper part of the member i! is provided with a flat seating i3, shrouded by an almost continuous upstanding flange id, for the base of a bobbin, pirn or like tube upon which the package is to be wound such that the lowermost coil of yarn in the package will occupy a position immediately above said flange Hi.

The ring rail i is counter-bored beneath the ring 6 to provide a recess is capable of accommodating the radially projecting ring it which is screwed upon the lower part of the package carrier member it when the spindle is raised to the doinng position, i. e. the position of the spindle relative to the ring in which the entire yarn package projects upwardly through the ring. In this position the upper surface of the flange I l of the member H projects approximately one eighth inch above the upper face of the ring 6.

The said flange id is interrupted to provide a mounting for a spring catch plate anchored at It and having its free end iii extending into a horizontal lateral slot 2% undercut in the adjacent part of said flange i i; a compression spring 2i may be provided to urge said plate 29 upwardly into resilient contact with the underside of the undercut part of the flange, so that the plate and flange cooperate to form a yarn gripper. The end it of the catch plate ii is bifurcated to form a slot 22 in which is located an upstanding peg 23, the purpose whereof is hereinafter described.

In the base of the member Ii is a concentric groove 24 closed on the underside by the ring it and extended upwardly in the form of a narrow slot 25. Said groove 24 houses a ring it (constituting the second component of the package carrier member) which carries an upstanding blade 2'! which is received in said slot 25, the arrangement being such that said ring 25 and blade 21 are free to rotate in the groove 2% and slot 25. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the slot 25 follows the inner edge of the catch plate 5?, l9 and the blade 2? is of a length to cooperate therewith shearing fashion as it passes along the same.

A shallow groove is provided on the peripheral surface of the member i i at 28, and a downwardly projecting peg as is fixed in the underside of the cutter ring 26.

On the underside of the ring rail 7 are slidably mounted two parallel interceptor plates 39 and 3!; longitudinal slots 32 in the plates cooperate with studs 33 which depend from the rail 7 to guide the movement of the plates, the weight of the latter being supported by the heads of the studs. The two plates 36, 3| are arranged to serve a plurality of spinning units, and are adapted to be slidden endwise at the appropriate times by mechanical means linked to a yoke 34 which is attached to the ends of the plates, and operating in synchronism with the packagebuilding and package-doffing mechanism. The plates 3i} and 3! are fashioned with oppositely disposed inward lateral extensions 35 in respect of each spinning unit, and each extension 35 of the plate includes a lug so located that it will serve as an abutment for the peg 29 in the underside of the cutter ring 26.

The manner of operation of the device is as follows:

It is well known in ring spinning practice, that the yarn passing through the traveller between the drafting rollers and the spindle, causes the traveller to be revolved around the ring as the spindle rotates. The traveller rotates at a lesser speed than the spindle, thereby causing the yarn to be wrapped on the bobbin or pirn, the variation in speed of the traveller being governed by the delivery rate of the drafting rollers. Upon completion of the bobbin, the spindle rail 3 is raised into doffing initiating relation to the ring rail (Fig. 4), wherein the flange Hi passes the level of the ring 6, and the yarn from the traveller 8 slides over the catch-plate H, is to be seized between the upper face of the latter and the undercut part of the flange; the remainder of the yarn delivered by the traveller before he spindles and rollers come to rest is laid in the shallow groove 28 around the member ii. The yarn so laid in said groove 28 is of sufficient length to permit the package carrier member to be lowered subsequently from the top doinng position to the starting position without pulling said yarn out of the grip of the catch-plate ii, is. At this stage the interceptor plates 3t) and Si are then moved from the inoperative position shown in Fig. 5 to the position shown in Fig. 7, in which the lateral extensions 35 of both plates lie beneath the ring 16 at the base of the package carrier member.

A brief rotary impulse is now imparted to the spindle. This causes the cutter ring 25 to be abruptly arrested by the impingement of the projecting peg 29 against the lug 3b of the interceptor plate 353, but the member H continues to rotate with the spindle until the yarn is pushed well into the grip of the catch-plate El, E9, and it is finally severed as it is drawn taut across the blade 21.

The spindle rail 3 is now lowered, but the package carrier member I! (and the bobbin or the like and the package supported thereby) are retained in the doting position by the presence of the interceptor plates 3t, 3! beneath the ring 16, so that when the spindle rail reaches it lowermost position the tip of the spindle blade has been withdrawn completely from the bobbin or the like. The lateral support hitherto afforded to the package having been removed, the package may be doffed automatically.

If desired, the doinng operation may be performed by a lateral displacement eirected positively by an outward sweeping movement of the separator plates conventionally provided between adjacent spinning units, as shown in Fig. 9. For this purpose the adjacent pair of said plates 31 associated with each spindle may be joined in the rear of the spindle position by a connecting member 3' to form a U-shaped shield connection which, when the plates are moved outwardly by the operation of a cam 38, as depicted at the right-hand side of Fig. 9, will push the package laterally from the package carrier, to fall in front of the machine. An arrangement wherein the casing of the machine is pivoted mechanically into a position in which it forms a hopper receiving the dotted yarn package and guiding it on to a conveyor for removal to a receptacle at the end of the machine, forms the subject of my United States patent application Serial No.

193,825, now Patent No. 2,570,057 of October 2, 1951.

It will be understood that the translational movements of the spindle and the yarn package herein referred to are movements in relation to the ring rail and that the references herein contained to the package reaching the doffing position or the spindle being withdrawn from the package are intended to include the case in which the doifing position of the package is reached by a movement of the ring rail and in which the the ring rail raises the package from the spindle.

Carrier mem'bers ll of diiferent hand, i. c. with respect to the disposition of the catch-plate ll, l9 and the cutter blade 21, are required for spinning weft way and warp way, respectively.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A ring spinning, doubling or twisting unit comprising, in combination, a spindle, a spindle rail supporting the spindle, a ring, a ring rail supporting the ring, said ring rail being located above the spindle rail and the rails being mounted for relative vertical movement for the purpose among others of relatively shifting the ring rail and the spindle into and out of dofling initiating relation, a yarn package carrier deta'chably supported on the spindle, normally driven by the spindle, and normally occupying a fixed vertical relation to the spindle, said package carrier forming a seat for the yarn package and incorporating two relatively rotatable components, the first of which normally drives the second in unison with itself, a cutter carried by the second of said components, a yarn catch carried by the first component in position automatically to grip the yarn when the ring rail and spindle are brought into said dofiing initiating relation, and means for arresting the second component when the yarn has been gripped to cause the cutter to come to rest while the catch continues to rotate, the construction and arrangement being such that the continued rotation of the catch causes the gripped yarn to be tautened and severed against the arrested cutter, and means for intercepting and retaining the package carrier in association with the ring rail as relative separation of the spindle and the ring rail is effected after severance of the yarn, to cause the yarn package to be supported with freedom for doffing.

2. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for arresting the second or cutter carrying component includes a, detent on the cutter carrying component of the package carrier, adapted to be arrested when the spindle is located in said doffing initiating relation to the ring rail, and an arresting abutment cooperative therewith.

3. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1 in which the ring rail includes a recess for receiving the package carrier when the spindle and ring rail reach dofiing initiating relation, and in which the means for arresting the second or cutter carrying component includes a detent on the cutter carrying component of the package carrier, an arresting abutment cooperative therewith, .and means for moving said abutment into arresting position upon arrival of the carrier in the recess.

4. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1, in which the interceptor means is movably mounted on the ring rail, and means is provided 6 for moving said interceptor means into carrier retaining position after the spindle and the ring rail have been relatively moved into doffing initiating relation.

5. A spinning or like unit as set forth in clam 1, in which the arresting and intercepting means are combined into a single element which is mounted on the ring rail.

6. A spinning or like unit as claimed in claim 1 in which the first component of the yarn package carrier carries the yarn catch on its upper rim and comprises a substantially cylindrical body adapted to be mounted coaxially on the spindle, said body having a coaxial groove in its lower portion and a communicating coaxial slot above the groove which emerges adjacent the yarn catch, and the second component being in the form of a cutter ring from which the cutter projects, said cutter ring being rotatably mounted in the groove and the cutter being arranged to travel in the slot for severing the yarn adjacent the yarn catch.

7 A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1 which includes a plate slidably mounted on the under side of the ring rail, and means for imparting limited endwise movement to said plate, the plate having an enlargement movable beneath the package carrier when the ring rail and the spindle are in the doffing initiating relation, said enlargement constituting the intercepting means for retaining the package carrier in association with the ring rail as relative separation of the spindle and the ring rail is effected, and also constituting a part of the means for arresting the second or cutter carrying component.

8. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1 which includes a pair of plates slidably mounted on the under side of the ring rail at opposite sides of the spindle axis, and a common means for imparting limited endwise movement to said plates, the plates being rigidly connected at their ends to move together as a unit, each plate having an enlargement movable beneath the package carrier when the ring rail and the spindle are in doffing initiating relation, said enlargements constituting the intercepting means for retaining the package carrier in association with the ring rail as relative separation of the spindle and the ring rail is eifected, and one of them also constituting a part of the means for arresting the second or cutter carrying component.

9. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1 which includes a plate slidably mounted on the under side of the ring rail, and means for imparting limited endwise movement to said plate, the plate having an enlargement movable beneath the package carrier when the ring rail and the spindle are in the doifing initiating relation, said enlargement constituting the intercepting means for retaining the package carrier in association with the ring rail as relative separation of the spindle and the ring rail is efiected, the means for arresting the second or knife carrying component of the package carrier being constituted in part by the interceptor plate and by a lug which is carried .by the interceptor plate.

10. A spinning or like unit as set forth in claim 1, 1n which a shield is provided to enclose the sides and rear of the yarn package, and means is provided for moving said shield outward at appropriate times to impel the yarn package outward and thereby insure positive dofiing.

JAMES JACKSON HAYTHORNTHWAITE.

No references cited. 

